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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Feb. 28, 2013) – The Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce says a fiber optic cable connecting the country to international networks would be a game changer for the telecommunications industry and businesses that rely on fast, affordable internet.

The Chamber has asked the Telecommunications Minister Mark Brown to help inform an Asian Development Bank feasibility study into a submarine fiber optic cable being laid from the Cooks.

In its submission, the Chamber says the capital, Rarotonga, is finding constraints on communications are limiting business opportunities.

It says with the population being depleted as the workforce emigrates for better opportunities it is crucial that the Cook Islands can provide first-world standard communications.

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, March 1, 2013) – France's Permanent Representative to the United Nations says it's not appropriate for the United Nations to be dragged into French Polynesia's local election campaign.

French Polynesian President Oscar Temaru has travelled to New York to campaign for the territory's re-listing on the UN decolonization list.

French Polynesia's opposition says there has been no referendum in favor of Mr. Temaru's move.

French representative Gérard Araud says it would be better to put the issue on hold until after French Polynesia's elections.

"There is no emergency: the territory is peaceful, the democratic institutions are working smoothly and properly," he said.

"We do not think that it is very appropriate to use the United Nations in an electoral campaign for French Polynesia.

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, March 1, 2013) – The Northern Marianas’ hotel industry seems to be on a path to recovery after registering a very encouraging 91.05 percent occupancy rate in January 2013. This is the highest hotel occupancy rate for the Commonwealth in the past 15 years. The last time the islands saw such a record-breaking number was in January 1998, at 91.96 percent.

Don't get too excited, though, cautions Nick Nishikawa, Hyatt Regency Saipan GM and chairman of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI). That phenomenal number is only because it's traditionally peak season for the industry.

Guarded optimism, that's the key. Nishikawa hopes that the positive trend will continue but this will highly depend on key factors that are beyond HANMI's control.

Nishikawa cited the importance of meeting the demands of the industry and one of that is the...

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Yokwe, Feb. 27, 2013) – Melisa Laelan, a Marshall Islander residing in Springdale, Arkansas, will be the first person in the country to be sworn in as a certified Marshallese interpreter. Northwest Arkansas has the largest concentration of Marshall Islanders in the continental United States. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Hannah will administer the oath to Laelan and two other newly-certified state court interpreters Thursday, February 28, at 9:45 a.m.

According to the Supreme Court release, family and guests will join the interpreters and the full court for the swearing-in ceremony following oral arguments. The ceremony will be streamed live on the Court's website.

After the ceremony, all attendees are invited to the reception in the lobby outside the AOC in the Justice Building. Local Marshallese will perform a traditional Marshallese dance.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Feb. 28, 2013) – The Tongan Advisory Council chairman in New Zealand says he’s appalled that proper protocols weren’t observed when the King of Tonga visited the Auckland University of Technology on Wednesday.

The Council’s Auckland-based chairman, Melino Maka, says the head of state arrived with no traditional Maori welcome to give proper respect for the king’s visit.

He says it was embarrassing that the king’s visit was so poorly organized and acknowledged, and he wants a review of what happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

"I’m really, really, disappointed because that’s not the way you handle a state visit. To come into or to enter into a state institution that actually acknowledges the Treaty of Waitangi and just ignore some of the basic fundamentals of Maori culture...

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, Feb. 29, 2013) – Exactly a week after being sworn in as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ seventh chief executive, Gov. Eloy S. Inos signed late Wednesday afternoon a letter to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad asking for his help in extraditing former attorney general and now fugitive from justice Edward T. Buckingham III to face multiple felony and misdemeanor charges that the Office of the Public Auditor filed against him.

Inos asked Branstad's help in apprehending and returning Buckingham-whom he described as "a fugitive from justice who has been charged with the commission of multiple crimes"-to the CNMI.

The governor said he has reason to believe that Buckingham has taken refuge in Johnson County in the State of Iowa.

The ministry’s plans for achieving this figure were put to the Government’s recent Revenue Forum held in Port Vila. Members of non-state actors were also called in after the two day seminar to hear the government’s revenue raising initiatives and to assist with ideas to achieve these aims.

As Parliament prepares to meet in two weeks’ time to debate government’s budget estimates for 2013 during its First Ordinary Session for the year, government ministries, departments and cooperate organizations have been polishing up their plans for managing their revenue and expenditure budgets.

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, Feb. 28, 2013) – International criminal police organization Interpol has held its first ever meeting to address illegal fishing, in a bid to curtail the multi-billion dollar black market.

The organization’s Environmental Crime Program established an illegal fishing unit to help countries deal with fish piracy and to monitor and disrupt criminal activities.

The Pacific Ocean is a hotbed of illegal fishing, and Greenpeace's Pacific Oceans Campaigner, Nathaniel Pelle, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat that governments need to work with Interpol to reduce the impact of illegal fishing.

"Best estimates are that as much as a third or even a bit over of the fishing that goes on in the Pacific region is...

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji Times, Feb. 28, 2013) – Fiji’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation is working with the police and health sector to improve its services on ending violence against women and children.

Under the plan, the percentage of female police officers will be increased from 5 percent to 20 percent, with increased female police presence in frontline service positions.

For its part, the health sector will expand its services to sexual and reproductive health clinics.

Speaking at the official signing of COMMIT campaign yesterday, minister Dr. Jiko Luveni said the police were committed to providing a 24-hour turnaround time in serious cases of violence against women and children.

Dr. Luveni said the police would monitor crimes against women and children and share this information on a quarterly basis with her ministry.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.